Tuesday, November 04, 2008

After Eight Years Something Amazing Happened



Tonight, like every first Tuesday after the first Monday in November since 1996 I was glued to the TV. Regardless of the outcome, history was being made. On one side of the spectrum there was a possibility that a women could be our Vice President (which I guess was a possibility in 1984, but Mondale had no chance of beating Reagan). On the other end, the end I support, a young African-American stood to be our next President-elect.

And after the frustration of an election being stolen from us in 2000 and feeling bewildered by a population that voted in the illusion of fear in 2004, today I got the honor to cast my ballot for someone that promised change, for someone who was change in a monochrome world. A man that would introduce us to a vivid spectrum of solutions because, to put is simply, something different needed to be done. For to long we have been living with the status quo, implementing either solution A or B for a problem that time and time again rears its ugly head and stares us down to the point where we know no matter what we do, this beast, will never leave us.

But after today. . . after today we have another option, an option we never considered. For the first time in our lives we will look at this beast, from the melting of the middle class to the financial meltdown that my 91 year old grandfather never though he would see again, with new eyes, a new focus. Starting today America will get a new lease on life, a second chance to create the "Great Society" that FDR, JFK, and LBJ were trying to build but could never finish.

Starting today America is a better place. Starting today America overcame a battle that our parents fought in the 1960's. Starting today America is anew with hope and a joyous look at the path that leads into the unknown. Starting today the youth, the minorities, and the fed-up spoke with one unified and clear voice shouting "we are tired of being ignored!"

Starting today. . . chance for the better will start to happen. The end of an era is coming to a close, and the dawn of anew is about to happen.